Chapter 11: The Climb Begins
The Architect's revelation changed everything.
Not because it gave me answers—it raised more questions than it solved. But because it gave me a target. A hundred floors. The council. The truth.
I could work with a target.
---
The council's new champion, Marcus, stood at the base of a different tower—one that existed outside Earth's physical space, in the digital void between worlds. His armor hummed with stolen power, harvested from a dozen conquered sectors.
"A hundred floors," he murmured, looking up at the spire that stretched into infinity. "The boy has a hundred floors. I have one."
He stepped into the tower's entrance.
"Let's see who finishes first."
---
The morning after the Architect's awakening, I gathered the faction in the Hub's main hall. Two hundred people, packed into a space meant for fifty, their faces a mix of fear and determination.
"You all felt it last night," I said. "The stars going out. The voice in your heads. The System cracking."
Murmurs of agreement.
"That was the Architect. The one who created the System. He's been imprisoned by the ones who run it now—the council. And he wants our help to break free."
A woman in the back raised her hand. "What's in it for us?"
"Freedom," I said. "The council harvests our world. Feeds on our souls. Uses the towers to grind us into power. The Architect wants to stop that. So do I."
"And if we fail?"
I looked at her. "Then we die. But we're going to die anyway if we don't fight. The towers aren't getting easier. The monsters aren't getting weaker. The only way out is up."
Silence. Then Min-jun stepped forward.
"I've mapped the first twenty floors," he said, his tablet glowing. "Based on the data the Architect unlocked, each floor has a theme. A type of enemy. A Guardian. If we plan our climbs carefully, we can optimize our growth."
Seo-yoon joined him. "We'll need specialized squads. Healers on every team. Ranged support. Tanks. We can't just throw bodies at the problem."
I nodded. "Then that's what we build. Min-jun handles strategy. Seo-yoon handles training. I'll handle the cutting."
I looked at the crowd.
"The Butcher's Block is going to climb a hundred floors. Not in a day. Not in a week. In years, maybe. But we're going to do it together."
A cheer went up. Small at first, then louder. Not because they believed in me—because they believed in themselves.
I stepped down from the makeshift stage and walked to the tower's entrance.
Time to climb.
---
The Observer—no longer a pigeon, no longer a shadow, but something in between—watched from the edge of the plaza. The council had ordered it to maintain surveillance, despite the risks. The boy was too dangerous to ignore.
But something had changed. The boy wasn't just fighting anymore. He was building. Organizing. Creating something the council had never seen before—a faction that wasn't based on fear or greed, but on shared purpose.
"He's going to be a problem," the Observer muttered.
It transmitted its findings.
*SUBJECT: ANOMALY. STATUS: PREPARING FOR SUSTAINED OPERATION. FACTION MORALE: HIGH. RECOMMEND ACCELERATED COUNTERMEASURES. *
The council's response was swift:
*COUNTERMEASURE DEPLOYED. CHAMPION MARCUS IS ASCENDING HIS OWN TOWER. EXPECT RESULTS WITHIN ONE WEEK. *
The Observer felt a chill. One week. Marcus was moving fast.
Too fast.
---
The sixth floor was a maze.
Not the organic corridors of the lower floors—this was deliberate, designed to confuse and separate. Walls shifted. Paths looped back on themselves. My Weak Point Detection showed me the structural flaws, but the floor's layout changed faster than I could cut.
Seo-yoon kept close, her sword glowing. "This is different."
"The Architect said each floor has a theme. This one's theme is confusion."
"Great." She squinted at a fork in the path. "Left or right?"
My Predator's Instinct tugged me left. "That way."
We moved through the shifting corridors, our squad—Jae, Hyun, two healers, and an archer—following in formation. The enemies on this floor were new: Mimics, creatures that disguised themselves as walls, floors, even loot. My Blood Sense picked them out before they could strike, but they were fast, agile, and venomous.
Jae took a bite to the arm. Hyun dragged him back while the healers worked. I cut the Mimic in half.
Processing.
[Strength +2]
[Agility +3]
[Skill upgrade: Blood Sense Lv.3]
"He's stable," one of the healers said. "But we should pull back. He needs rest."
I looked at the corridor ahead. The floor's Guardian was close—I could feel it. But Jae was our best tank. Without him, the fight would be harder.
"Pull back," I said. "We try again tomorrow."
Seo-yoon nodded. "Smart."
"Not smart. Patient." I helped Jae to his feet. "We have time. We don't have to rush."
She gave me a look. "You've changed."
"I've had time to think."
We retreated to the surface, the shifting corridors closing behind us. The sun—what passed for sun—was setting, painting the ruins in shades of orange and red.
Min-jun met us at the Hub entrance. "Sixth floor?"
"Cleared halfway. We'll finish tomorrow."
He nodded, making notes on his tablet. "I've been analyzing the pattern. Each floor seems to be designed to test a specific weakness. The sixth floor tests patience and perception. The seventh—based on the data—might test endurance."
"Then we train endurance."
"Already planned." He gestured to a group of fighters running laps around the plaza. "Seo-yoon's idea."
I watched them run. They were slow, clumsy, out of shape. But they were trying.
That was enough.
---
Marcus climbed his tower like a man possessed. Each floor was a trial—combat, puzzles, endurance, willpower—and he passed them all. His armor drank the power of every enemy he killed. His skills evolved at a rate that would have seemed impossible for a normal human.
But he wasn't normal. He was the council's champion. Their weapon.
On the seventh day, he reached the top.
The tower's final floor was empty—a white void, featureless and infinite. At its center, a figure waited.
"You've done well," the figure said. It had no face, no form—just a shape, a suggestion of a person. "Faster than we anticipated."
Marcus knelt. "I serve the council."
"Yes. You do." The figure extended a hand. "Now take your reward."
Light flooded the void. When it faded, Marcus was different. His armor had fused with his skin. His eyes glowed with System code. His class had evolved into something the Architect had never intended.
*CHAMPION ASCENDED. CLASS: SYSTEM LORD (S-RANK). LEVEL: 100. *
Marcus smiled.
"Now," he said, "let's go hunting."
---
I woke in the middle of the night to a cold that wasn't weather.
My Anomaly Perception was screaming. Something was coming. Something fast. Something powerful.
I grabbed my sword and ran outside.
The sky was wrong again—not the usual wrong, but a new wrong. Ripples spread across the stars, like someone had thrown a stone into a pond. At the center of the ripples, a figure descended.
Marcus.
He landed in the plaza with a crack that shattered the ground. His armor was black and gold, pulsing with System energy. His eyes were twin points of light.
"Jin-ho," he said. "We meet again."
I raised my sword. "You're working for the council."
"I'm working for myself. The council gives me power. Power lets me do whatever I want." He spread his arms. "And what I want is to kill you."
He moved.
Fast. Faster than anything I'd faced. My Predator's Instinct barely registered his trajectory before his fist slammed into my chest. I flew backward, crashing through the Hub's wall, landing in a heap of rubble.
Damage sustained. Critical. Activating emergency regeneration.
I pushed myself up. My armor was shattered. My ribs were broken. But I was alive.
Marcus walked through the hole in the wall, his footsteps casual. "That was one percent of my power. Want to see two?"
Seo-yoon's sword came down between us, golden light blazing. "Get away from him."
Marcus caught the blade with his bare hand. It didn't cut him.
"Paladin," he said. "Pretty. But useless."
He flicked his wrist. Seo-yoon flew across the room, hitting the far wall with a sickening crunch.
"Seo-yoon!" I tried to move, but my body wouldn't cooperate.
Marcus knelt beside me. "You're not special, Jin-ho. You were just lucky. The Architect picked you because you were convenient, not because you were strong." He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. "I'm going to kill you. Then I'm going to kill your faction. Then I'm going to find the Architect and kill him too."
I spat blood in his face.
He wiped it off slowly. "Two percent."
His hand closed around my throat.
---
The Observer watched through the Hub's broken windows. The champion was winning. The anomaly was dying. The council would be pleased.
But something was wrong. The boy's class—the Anomaly—wasn't fading. It was flickering, pulsing, changing.
*CODE SIGHT ACTIVATED. *
*FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE UNLOCKED. *
*EVOLUTION LOCK: BYPASSED. *
The Observer's eyes widened. "He's evolving. In the middle of combat."
Light exploded from the boy's body.
---
I was drowning.
Not in water—in code. The System's raw architecture flooded my senses, showing me everything. The rules that governed reality. The loopholes the council had exploited. The backdoors the Architect had hidden.
And I saw Marcus. Not as a person—as a construct. A weapon. A thing built to kill me.
But every weapon has a weakness.
I reached into his code and cut.
Marcus screamed.
His armor shattered. His eyes went dark. He staggered back, clutching his chest, where a line of black ichor was spreading across his skin.
"What—what did you do?"
"I processed you," I said, standing. My body was healed, my class reborn. "You're not a champion anymore. You're just meat."
\[CLASS EVOLUTION: ANOMALY → SYSTEM BUTCHER (B-RANK)\]
\[New Skill: Code Cutting – Ability to damage or delete System constructs directly.\]
\[New Skill: Harvest Champion – Passive. Gain permanent stats from defeating council champions.\]
\[Marcus defeated. Processing…\]
\[Strength +100\]
\[Agility +100\]
\[Vitality +100\]
\[Magic +100\]
\[Skill acquired: Champion's Resilience\]
\[Skill acquired: Council's Mark (Tracking)\]
Marcus fell to his knees. His eyes were human again—frightened, confused.
"Please," he whispered.
I raised my sword.
"No."
I lowered it.
"You're going to live," I said. "And you're going to tell me everything you know about the council."
He stared at me. "You're sparing me?"
"I'm using you. There's a difference."
I turned to check on Seo-yoon. She was sitting up, groggy but alive. Min-jun was helping her to her feet.
The faction was gathering around us, weapons drawn, faces shocked.
"The threat is gone," I said. "For now."
I looked at the sky. The ripples were fading. But I could feel the council's eyes on me—angry, afraid, desperate.
They had sent their champion. He had failed.
Now they knew what I was capable of.
A System Butcher. B-rank. And still climbing.
---
The council chamber was silent. Marcus's defeat had been broadcast across every sector—a warning to anyone who might challenge the Anomaly.
The cold voice spoke: "He processed a champion."
The warm voice: "He spared him."
The neutral voice: "He's learning."
"What do we do?"
Silence.
Then the warm voice: "We wait. He can't climb a hundred floors alone. His faction will slow him down. His allies will fail him. And when he's alone, we strike again."
"And if he doesn't fail?"
"Then we prepare for the end."
---
I sat beside Seo-yoon on the roof of the Hub, watching the wrong stars.
"You almost died," she said.
"So did you."
"I'm a Paladin. I'm supposed to protect people. You're supposed to stay alive."
I smiled. "I'll try harder."
She leaned against me. "You'd better."
Below us, the faction moved about their business—training, crafting, planning. The sixth floor would fall tomorrow. Then the seventh. Then the hundredth.
It would take years.
But for the first time, I thought we might actually make it.
End of Chapter 11